The Founders

Angela Petrelli (Cristine Rose)

The mother of Peter and Nathan Petrelli, revealed to be one of the 12 leaders of the Company. A ruthless pragmatist who was highly involved in Linderman's plan to make the world a better place, even if it meant killing off 0.07% of the human population. Has the superpower of precognitive dreams, which was the first superpower her son Peter absorbed. Is also extremely adept at manipulating people to do what she wants. As of Volume Three and Four, while she isn't exactly a good guy, it's harder to call her a straight-up villain.

Associated Tropes:

The Cassandra: Averted. Her visions and dreams are considered serious and valuable insights, although she has been wrong on occasion.

Consummate Liar: She managed to keep such major secrets such as superpowers, ancient conspiracies, unknown family members, and multiple homicides from her sons for years even after one of them acquired powers like mind reading. She also totally crushes Danko when he questions her trying to get dirt on her other son / his boss.

Dreaming of Things to Come: Angela has the ability to see the future while dreaming. She also seems able to appear in other people's dreams, as she used this aspect of her power to wake Sylar and get him save Peter, even while she was trapped in her own mind.

Evil Matriarch: All her actions have shady motivations and she's not above using her children if the end justified the means (even considering killing one son at one point).

In light of the events of V3, however, it's difficult to figure out if Angela was always such a Cold Hard Bitch, or became one after she found out that her husband had been mind-controlling her for years, mind-raping her into going along with the aforementioned (narrowly averted) Offing the Offspring.

Humiliation Conga: The start of Volume Two, where she's apparently hit financial tough times after her plan to destroy New York went bust. She got better after assuming control of The Company after Bob's untimely Sylarfication, though.

Manipulative Bastard: Sylar all but tells her that he is in awe of her level of manipulation and lying and even he would love to aspire to that level of evil.

Meaningful Name: This may be a coincidence, but Mama Petrelli shares her first name with the actress who plays Raymond Shaw's mother in The Manchurian Candidate. You know, the mother who is willing to sacrifice her son and let him become a killer in order to get another male relative elected president, so that through him she and her shadowy syndicate can take over the U.S. government under the pretext of hunting down undesirables, even though she and her friends are in fact members of said undesirable groups themselves. Sound familiar?

Nominal Hero: Angela cares about protecting herself and her erratically heroic sons more than anything else. For anything short of saving the world, getting her help will likely involve more evil than you're trying to stop.

Power Hair: She has this to go along with her painfully perfect cutthroat high society aide. It really shouldn't come as a surprise when it turns out she's the Evil Matriarch and in league with Linderman to destroy New York.

In later seasons the actress's hair got longer, and she started arranging it in a very tight updo which creates an even more power-y effect. The comparison became obvious in a flashback to pre-season 1 before Arthur's apparent death.

A Las Vegas businessman/mob boss, Linderman is in fact a ruthless puppetmaster and the leader of the Company during Volume One. An affable old man with the ability to heal via touch, Linderman is sick and tired of human suffering, and after realizing that healing one person at a time simply isn't doing the job, wants to unify the world and create a utopia by... staging a massive national tragedy, namely destroying New York City with an exploding superhuman. He spends much of Volume One attempting to seduce Nathan to his cause and harassing the Sanders family to play their part in his scheme, which ultimately backfires on him when the Sanders family tracks him down and caves his head in. Returns in Volume Three as a ghost, initially. It turned out that Linderman is simply a mental image planted into Nathan Petrelli and new Volume Three character Daphne Millbrook by Maury Parkman.

Anti-Villain: It's hinted by Volume 3 that he was this, given what he was like in the War Buddies chapter, as well as his implied guilt about causing the Petrelli's accident and attempting to make amends by healing Heidi.

Affably Evil: He is played by Malcolm McDowell, after all. Linderman acts more like a kindly grandfather then a mob boss. Hell, the first thing he does when he is confronted in Vegas was offer the person accosting him a pot pie.

Big Eater: He's a man of incredible means but seems to enjoy cooking most, believing that people are at their happiest when eating.

The Chessmaster: Linderman seems to have his hooks in everything, especially DL and Niki. His apparent omniscience is helped along by being a collector of art... particularly art made by Isaac who paints the future.

Dark Messiah: A self-proclaimed "humanitarian", his stated goal in life is to "heal the world"...which he plans to start by blowing up most of New York. He also comes with a set of Healing Hands that can make the blind see and the lame walk, just in case you missed it otherwise.

He was also horrified that Arthur was planning on murdering Nathan to begin with, appalled that anyone could be so heartless about their own children.

Evil Brit: Kind of. Linderman was portrayed by Scottish actor Malcolm McDowell, but the character's last name as well as his reference to concentration camps in Volume 4's flashback implies that he hailed from Germany or at least was descended from Jewish Germans.

Friend to All Children: He takes a real liking to Micah and helps him use his gifts for what he believes to be the greater good.

Freudian Excuse: Malcolm McDowell implies that Lindermann's motivations stemmed from a bad childhood in an interview. Given what was shown in Volume 4, its likely that his "bad childhood" was being placed in Warehouse 8 (the former Warehouse 8 from the 1950s), and given his reaction and deduction about what the camp actually was, its also likely that he may have spent some time in a Concentration Camp, or at least was descended from people who were put in the Concentration Camps.

Good Powers, Bad People: He has the power to heal, but his goal is to blow up New York. He usually uses his power to manipulate or control people by giving, withholding or revoking healing.

Healing Hands: He has the ability to heal the injuries and illnesses of living organisms; this includes healing the "scars" created by mental manipulation, thereby allowing him to restore lost memories and remove implanted thoughts.

Loan Shark: Niki Sanders borrows money from him, who sends thugs after her to retrieve it. In a twist, Linderman actually doesn't care much about the money. He's much more interested in having Niki's... interesting family under his influence.

Arthur Petrelli

One of the twelve founding members of the Company, Angela's estranged husband, and father to Peter, Nathan, and NOT Sylar. Believed to have committed suicide prior to Volume One, Arthur reemerged in Volume Three as the head of Pinehearst, an organization acting in opposition to the Company, seeking the secret to creating artificial superhumans... a secret which the show's clairvoyants all agree will lead to horrible disaster.

He also had Telepathy dating back to before his first appearance. It is unclear if this is his own naturally occurring power or if he stole it from someone else, though a likely victim was Charles Deveaux. He is shown to be able to use it to activate a Compelling Voice, create Laser-Guided Amnesia, and administer a Poke in the Third Eye.

Dirty Coward: After he realises his powers don't work against Peter, he proceeds to start begging him into not killing him.

The Dreaded: The otherwise unflappable Adam Monroe has a full-blown panic attack when he sees that Arthur is alive. Unfortunately most of his scenes after that (besides stealing Peter and Hiro's powers) make one wonder why anyone was ever scared of him.

Eviler Than Thou: In the two episodes following his introduction, he sucked the life out of Adam Monroe, killed Maury Parkman with a gesture, and overpowered Sylar without breaking a sweat. He's defeated more villains than any of the actual good guys!

And as of Our Father, he got his own Eviler-ing at the hands of Sylar.

Faking the Dead: Arthur was reported to have committed suicide in April 2006 after a long battle with depression although in truth his wife Angela poisoned him. He survived, albeit completely paralyzed and faked his own death.

Manipulative Bastard: The best case being trying to manipulate Sylar into believing he was the lost Petrelli son, which ended in Arthur's death.

Offing the Offspring: He doesn't hesitate to try and kill Peter and Nathan at the first sign of trouble.

Orcus on His Throne: When he bothered to act, he accomplished his goal immediately. But he didn't do it very often, instead deligating most tasks to an increasingly incompetent series of superpowered minions.

Physical God: Thanks to effective power stealing, including Peter's copying power, Arthur can basically do anything at this point. Go read the list of Physical God traits. He has most of them.

Also, it is hinted that, had Arthur succeeded with his plans, it would have resulted in someone blowing up the planet (its unknown who, although Volume 5 heavily implies that it is Samuel Sullivan, whose power exponentially grows based on how many super powered people he is around).

Bob Bishop (Stephen Toblowsky)

One of the twelve founders of the Company, who takes it over in Volume 2 after the death of Linderman, claiming he wishes to return it to its original purpose of safeguarding Evolved Humans and killing or capturing the evil ones. He experimented on his own daughter, Elle, to test the limits of her abilities, leaving her a dangerous psychopath. Killed by Sylar off-screen during Volume 3.

Black and Gray Morality: He seems to operate on this principal, going from a affable morally gray anti-hero to a outright villain, sometimes in the same episode.

Boring, but Practical: Both his power and the man himself. Unlike his Magnificent Bastard predecessor, Bob's sole motivation seemed to be to just keep the Company running smoothly and doing what it was created to do, instead of using it for his own utopian schemes.

The Sociopath: Possibly. He completely disregards dead agents, subjected his own daughter to torture to figure out the limits of her powers, erased her mind of some of the worst of those events, turned a man into gold, etc. all without a hint of regret.

The Reveal: His power. For years, before it was revealed to be Telepathy, a lot of people thought it was likely Dreaming of Things to Come, since this was one of the first powers that Peter shown possessing and was shown talking to Peter in a dream.

Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He was a terrible father, but he only worked for Arthur Petrelli on the condition that his son would be protected, and his objection to Arthur reneging on that promise is what gets him killed.

Killed Off for Real: When Arthur explains that Daphne will have to kill Matt, Maury is shocked. He reminds Arthur of their arrangement, which was Maury's service for Matt's safety. Arthur then breaks Maury's neck telekinetically, killing him, and then dryly thanking him for his years of service.

Psychic Powers: Like his son, Maury is a telepath; however, his powers are much more developed than Matt's. Instead of just reading surface thoughts, he can read people's memories and manipulate their perceptions of reality, allowing him to trap people in nightmares based on their deepest fears and insecurities.

Lotus-Eater Machine: He was able to trap people in nightmarish visions that drew off the victim's own thoughts and memories.

Master of Illusion: He could project visions at a more subtle level as well, to the point of convincing a target they were having a conversation with a mental image of an individual though he was unable to fool their sense of touch.

Back for the Dead: In Heroes Reborn he dies from an accidental gunshot wound to the heart in a fight with Noah. Especially since apparently he asks Rene to wipe his memories and kill him because of an upcoming tragedy. Noah deeply regrets this and it furthers his resolve to find the truth behind the Odessa bombing. When Noah changes the timeline, he's alive and well, working with Micah's Hero Truther movement. Too bad Matt clips him in the ear, but he survives.

Laser-Guided Amnesia: He has the ability to selectively erase the memories of anyone he wishes. He can erase memories of short periods, as demonstrated on Matt Parkman in "Collision", or erase a person's memory so thoroughly that they cannot remember their own name.

No Name Given: It's not until Volume Five that he we learn that his name is Rene.

Power Nullifier: The Haitian has a constantly-active ability to dampen or completely negate the powers of anyone within a certain distance of himself, akin to telepathic static. This ability deactivates if the Haitian is unconscious or if he selects specific individuals to allow the use of their abilities in his presence. His ability is not insurmountable; various characters have overcome it with great effort and the Haitian can exhaust himself from concentrating to suppress unusually strong abilities.

Scary Black Man: May be a subversion given that he is actually a fairly decent guy... it's just that he has the bad tendency of taking orders from all the wrong people. Though as all of them have been white and he's been shown as being a good man when NOT following orders from them.

A young, self-described sociopathic thrill killer and agent of the Company with the ability to generate lethal bolts of electricity from her hands. She's the daughter of Bob Bishop, the new leader of the Ancient Conspiracy following the death of Mr. Linderman. At the end of Volume Two, she starts showing doubts about her path in life after Mr. Bennet reveals to her that her screwed-up personality is largely due to painful experiments conducted on her by her father throughout her entire childhood, and ends the Volume saving Mohinder, Molly, and Maya from Sylar, for which they call her a "hero".

After her father is murdered by Sylar at the beginning of Volume Three, Elle is fired from The Company and spends some time searching for a purpose in life (even briefly teaming up and bonding with Claire over their mutual Power Incontinence) before finally falling back into bad habits alongside the other supervillains over at Pinehearst Industries. Has a Pet the Dog moment when its revealed that she indulged in a pie eating/soul saving session with proto-serial killer Gabriel Gray and then later does an Evil Is Sexy turn when she gets it on with Sylar. Beforehand she gives him advice: do what he wants for himself, which ultimately leads to her getting Sylared.

Associated Tropes:

Anti-Hero: In season 3, she teams up with Sylar during one of his brushes of working against the villains, becoming a Nominal Hero who primarily cares about Sylar.

Dark and Troubled Past: When she first arrived at the company, Elle was just a normal girl; but then they started testing on her, that the human brain cannot handle the amounts of electricity they gave her. Elle says that her father would never allow such a thing, but Noah says that he was leading the charge.

Honey Trap: Ordered under Company orders to get close to Gabriel/Sylar and find out about his powers. She ends up developing feelings for him, but when he discovered that she had been lying to him about abilities, he rejected her. Sylar was definitely not happy to see her show up in Mohinder's lab and stopping him from killing Mohinder.

Nepotism: In early Volume 3, her father is killed by Sylar, and Angela takes over the Company in the wake of it. Angela's first official act as the new head of the Company is to fire Elle, telling her point-blank that it was only due to Bob's influence that they kept Elle as an agent for so long anyway.

Psycho Electro: Once she started indulging in electric sadomasochism with imprisoned pretty-boy Peter, it was clear she wasn't exactly right in the head. It's implied to be the result of years of being a test subject who's been denied a normal childhood.

Shock and Awe: Elle had the ability to generate electricity. She seemed to have excellent control over her ability, allowing her to generate electric arcs of varying intensity and target them precisely.

The Sociopath: Elle says she has been diagnosed as a sociopath, and Peter aptly describes her as a Sadist.

Eden McCain (Nora Zehetner)

Born Sarah Ellis, Eden was a mole for the Company that lived next door to Chandra Suresh. She was a petty criminal before being recruited by the Company. She fell in love with Mohinder while spying on him, and swore to get revenge on Sylar for his fathers murder.

Candice Willmer (Missy Peregrym, Rachel Kimsey)

Ability: Create Illusions

Born Betty, Candice is an agent of the Company who works directly for Thompson and Linderman who has the ability to create illusions. Tormented as a child for the way she looked, she took revenge on her classmates by driving them insane. She was later recruited by the Company and became one of their top agents.

Big Eater: Minor hints to her true appearance were given by her eating habits.

Donna Dunlap

A former dentist assistant recruited by the Company after discovering a painting by Isaac Mendez of her death. She became a mole for Evs Dropper after discovering the Company had erased some of her memory, but eventually broke off contact with them after falling in love with her partner, Eric Thompson Jr. and deciding that Evs Dropper was just as manipulative as the Company. She was killed in the final battle against Evs Droper, just as Isaac had painted.

Connie Logan

Ability: Face Alteration

A former world renowned make-up artist, Connie was recruited into the Company and partnered with her daughter Penny, using her ability to transform a persons face and vocal cords for 24 hours to successfully carry out dozens of missions. Noted for her extreme narcissism and obsession with beauty. She is also one half of "Evs Dropper", seeking revenge with her daughter on the Company for using her husband as a lab rat to create hundreds of clones.

Heart Is an Awesome Power: Of course, when you are running a conspiracy to bring down an evil company, it helps to have your moles be able to impersonate anyone you need.

Julien Dumont

Julien Dumont

Ability: Cloning

A former petty crime lord in Belgium, Dumont was captured by the Company and convinced to become an agent. He was killed in the line of duty, but numerous clones of his continue to exist and serve the Company. He is actually being kept in a coma inside a Level 5 cell in order to be farmed for new clones to serve the Company. His wife Connie is one-half of Evs Dropper alongside another clone.

Fate Worse Than Death: Kept in a coma for years while being farmed for new clones. Upon being freed, the memory of all the clones he created while in a coma come back to him and create severe mental anguish.

Daddy's Girl: She was very close to her father when growing up, and was easily recruited into the Company when she met Gael Cruz and noted how similar he was in personality to her father. Then she and Gael got engaged.

Leonard Cushing

Ability: Acid Secretion

An Evo with the ability to emit acid from his pores, Cushing was noticed by the Company after he made a name for himself by being a highly successful gold miner in his hometown of Arizona. After a long recruitment process, Cushing joined the Company and was eventually assigned to work with Thompson Jr.

Frame-Up: Evs Dropper makes him look like he is behind the murder of five human agents, causing Gael, Thompson Jr., and Devin to hunt him down. Thompson wants to capture him, but Devin shoots him when he thinks Cushing is about to kill Thompson.

I Work Alone: The Company had trouble finding a partner to work with him since he would drop off the grid for months at a time and disliked working with others. This led to his initial assignment with Company being solo work in Las Vegas, shadowing persons of interest. However, he and Thompson Jr. got along well and were eventually teamed up.

Missing Mom: His Primatech file mentions that he was raised by his father and did not have a stable home life, with no mention of who his mom was or what happened to her.

Red Shirt: Appears in one issue of the online comics before being killed. He is subsequently mentioned in two more issues and his background is expanded upon in his Primatech file.

Human Agents

Eric Thompson, Sr.

Eric Thompson, Sr.

A high ranking Company operative and trainer, Thompson brought Noah into the Company and raised his son to be an agent. He served directly under Linderman and was involved in the plot to destroy New York City.

Affably Evil: He is usually pretty cheerful and friendly, and is notably not completely without mercy.

Ivan Spektor

Retired Badass: He used to be one of the Company's top agents and trainers.

Lauren Gilmore

Lauren Gilmore (Elisabeth Rohm)

A agent stationed in Odessa with Noah, Lauren was partnered with John Mulligan and was friends with Noah Bennet. After the collapse of the Company, Lauren joined the C.I.A. and was reunited with Noah in Washington D.C., where she works with him to investigate the Sullivan Brothers Carnival.

Laser-Guided Amnesia: When still working for the Company, Lauren had The Haitian erase her memories involving her attraction and flirtation with Noah since she did not want to be the cause of him cheating on his wife.

Remember the New Guy: She was a Company Agent who worked with Noah and they were at the Burnt Toast Diner the day of Charlie's death.

Suspiciously Similar Substitute: She looks a lot like Tracy and resumes working with Noah after Tracy with him. It's suspected that her story arc with Noah was originally intended for Tracy.

What Happened to the Mouse?: So far no mention of her has been made in Heroes: Reborn, despite her and Noah having been in a relationship at the end of Volume Four.

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